Spur-legged Stick Insect - Didymuria violescens

Family Phasmatidae

This page contains pictures and information about the Spur-legged Stick Insects that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.


Adult male, body length 90mm

It is the male Spur-legged Stick Insect in those photos. Its inflated hind femora bearing two black large spines. If it opens its wings, they are violet in colour. It is fully winged but not seem it can fly. They are also known as Violet-winged stick insects.



We only found this Stick Insect once. It was in Karawatha Forest during a very hot day in mid March. It was resting on a large Gum tree trunk, about 0.5 meter above ground level. We did not see the female yet.



We brought the insect home but it died on the next day. We found that in general we can keep a female Stick Insect for very long time but not the male. We had kept the female Titan and Children's for about a year. For male, they usually died within a few days.



Found this nymph on Mar 2009 in Anstead Forest. It was just resting on a large tree trunk, about a meter from ground.


Reference:
1. Insects of Australia, CSIRO, Division of Entomology, Melbourne University Press, 2nd Edition 1991, pp 402.
2. Didymuria violescens (Leach, 1814) - A Guide to the Stick Insects of Australia, by Peter Miller 20-Sep-2006.
3. The Complete Field Guide to Stick and Leaf Insects of Australia - Paul D. Brock and Jack W. Hasenpusch, CSIRO PUBLISHING, 2009, p124.
4. Species Didymuria violescens (Leach, 1814) - Australian Biological Resources Study, Australian Faunal Directory, 1997.